This invention relates to closures for screw top bottles such as soda or pop bottles, and more particularly, to resealable closures for such bottles.
Screw-top bottles are now in common use for delivery of carbonated beverages to consumers. Such bottles are formed of highly flexible plastic in one and two liter sizes. The
bottles include tops or necks with screw-threaded openings. After opening and pouring of portions of the bottle contents, the bottles become hard to handle.
Many devices provide handles for bottles and other containers. Coffee pots have handles attached to collars around the necks of the pots. Pancake syrup containers have similar handles. Clearly, attachment of a handle to a carbonated beverage container presents no obstacle of engineering. As obvious, a handle can be attached to a collar which screws onto the bottle. Further, as obvious, the handle and collar can include a lever-actuated cover for replacing the original bottle top and providing for opening and closing of the bottle with the handle and collar in place. If preferred, the handle, collar and cover may include a lock such as a locking pin as often used in power tools such as power drills and power saws, as often used on screen doors, and as often used in guns and toys, to lock the cover closed.
An aspect of handled devices for carbonated beverage bottles which creates a difficult situation is the aspect of providing a movable bottle stopper which effectively seals the bottle against beverage pressure. Carbonated beverages "go flat" over time, through escape of the carbonating gas from the liquid of the beverage. The escape of gas creates pressure in the beverage bottle. In shipment of the bottle to the consumer, the pressure in the bottle is met by the force of the screw threads which hold the cap to the bottle. In the provision of a moving bottle stopper in association with a bottle handle device, the pressure in the bottle must be met, while at the same time, the stopper must be readily movable.